Some primary objectives of conventional retail stores are to provide consumers with the items they need and to do so efficiently so as to maximize sales. One of the leading causes of lost sales is a lack of product availability, such as out of stock product (either missing from shelf and in a back room or missing entirely from that particular store), moved product and/or misplaced product. Currently, the only options for a consumer who cannot find what they are looking for are to forgo purchasing the product (i.e., meaning a lost sale) or to find a sales associate or employee and ask for their assistance in locating the product. In conventional retail establishments or stores, associates are relied upon heavily to receive deliveries, inventory new product, place, check, count and replenish displayed product, (e.g., product on shelves, in end units, in modulars, features, etc.), conduct price changes and reorganize the sales floor (e.g., move in and out seasonal product, freshen-up sales floor, etc.). Thus, an associate is not always readily available to render such assistance to a consumer and, even when they are, the time it takes for the associate to render this assistance is typically valuable time taken away from the other important things the associate is tasked with doing. In addition, the harder it is for the consumer to locate an associate to render such assistance, the more likely the consumer will give-up, get frustrated or simply not enjoy their overall shopping experience. Thus, the shopping experience would be more enjoyable to the consumer if other options were provided to render assistance in such instances, and the store could be operated more efficiently if other options were provided that free up the store associates to complete other important tasks.
Other areas where conventional retail stores fall short of their goal of making the shopping experience as efficient and enjoyable as possible are in soliciting and utilizing customer feedback. Currently, the only way for a customer to give feedback on their shopping experience, (e.g., such as to report a missing or out of stock product), is by communicating it to an associate found on the sales floor, to a cashier at checkout or by other point of contact or communication (e.g., emailing or telephoning in a comment, concern or complaint, etc.). Thus, customer trust and feedback remain greatly underutilized as a tool for providing better customer service and for improving retail store management.
In addition, over the past several years, the amount of consumers who utilize mobile devices during their shopping experience has dramatically increased. For example, some consumers use smartphones during their shopping experience to conduct price checks, do competitive shopping analysis, obtain further product information, make the shopping experience more efficient such as by expediting checkout (e.g., Wal-Mart Scan & Go system), etc. Other consumers may utilize store provided electronics, such as scanners or the like, that allow the consumer to obtain more information about their shopping or during their shopping experience and/or to make their shopping experience more efficient, such as by expediting checkout, etc. To-date, however, conventional retail stores have not taken full advantage of this increased use of technology by consumers.
Some efforts have been made to utilize consumer feedback, but these efforts typically require the consumer to obtain the assistance of a store associate or require the store to be equipped with special devices, such as scanners, displays, kiosks, switches or buttons. For example, some stores equip associates with scanners so that the associate can check on inventory or order status of a particular product if asked to do so by a consumer. In other examples, additional items are required to be attached to store shelving or displays, such as electronic shelf labels, which a consumer can press to notify the store a particular item is missing or out of stock. These solutions are limited in that they either require the consumer to obtain assistance from an associate or they require installation of additional items or hardware to existing store shelving and displays which can quickly become cost prohibitive depending on the number of items sold, size of the store, number of stores, etc. These solutions also fail to take advantage of the increased use of smart phones and handheld devices by everyday consumers.
Accordingly, it has been determined that a need exists for improved systems, apparatus and methods for managing stores to overcome the above-mentioned problems.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale or to include all features, options or attachments. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.